Friday, April 13, 2012

Create a Collage Self-Portrait

What’s in a face? While every person you meet has their own unique features, you might be surprised to find that most faces have the same proportions:

Heads are shaped like eggs, not circles

If you view a head from the front, its width is approximately two thirds of its height

The eyes are situated approximately halfway down the head

The distance between the eyes is similar to the breadth of the nose

The ears are the same length as the center of the eyes to the bottom of the nose

Want to see for yourself? Take a look at these portraits from our collection:

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Mary Cassatt, Louisine W. Havemeyer, 1896

William Matthew Prior, The Reverend W. Lawson, 1843

﻿Now you can use your newfound know-how to create your own self-portrait! Rather than drawing freehand, though, I have directions on how to make a special collage portrait from magazines and other materials you may already have at home.

1. Sit in front of the mirror with a pencil and a heavy piece of paper. Make a rough sketch of yourself. Don’t forget to include your eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair!

2. Cut out the collage materials to make your different facial features. If you’re having a hard time, you might try cutting out eyes, a nose, or a mouth straight from a magazine.

3. Glue the collage pieces onto your paper. You can do this in any order, but you might want to start with skin and layer other features over that. Save your hair for last—that’s when you can go crazy with ribbon and yarn.

4. Use the entire piece of paper—you can fill in the background with color, a landscape, a frame, etc.

5. Don’t forget to sign your portrait!

I had a blast making my collage self-portrait. You can check it out here: